Many Marketers Continue To Appeal To Gov’t To Restore OMEGA Market Or Else…
PHOTO: The new empty Omega Market Complex (Above) and Red-Light (Below)
By Kelvin Gonlah, gonlahkelvin1995@gmail.com
Paynesville – It seems that by all intent and purpose, the huge investment in the modern Omega Market Complex in Monrovia’s Paynesville suburb is virtually become a waste of public resources, as the facilities have been largely abandoned and the Red-Light commercial area has once again become the center of commercial activities.
Red-Light is overtaken by stockpile of garbage which is most of the time burned with smoke polluting the environment, stench with little or no shelter for marketers who continue to have the illusion that they won’t attract buyers if they are in building with various compartments for the different kinds of goods. Marketers, Others Exposed To Environmental Pollution, Death Trap At Monrovia’s Red Light Suburb – News Public Trust
Again, marketers of the 14-Gabachop market in Omega have expressed their displeasure over the abandonment of the well-furnished and modernized market which occupied about 5 acres of land, a parking lot that can accommodate more than 180 vehicles. This facility has two office spaces, 20 bathrooms for both males and females, a water tower of 6,000 gallons, self-contained boreholes, a garbage pile, and four warehouses. But they all have been abandoned by most marketers.
According to some marketers, they have staged numerous protests to resolve this situation which they are struggling with, something many observers blame on the age-old Liberian problem of poor enforcement of ordinances, laws or regulations.
In 2020, Liberian President George Manneh Weah dedicated the 14-Gobachop market to marketers of Paynesville in Omega Community, which it was hoped would help alleviate street selling and congestion at the Red-Light. It was also hoped that the new modern market complex would put an end to the chasing of vendors by the Liberia National Police (LNP), which sometimes lead to violent clashes, damage goods and extortion.
But all those expectations remain a big dream putting pressure on those marketers who have opted to remain at Omega market in spite of the low volume of business transactions there. Already, some marketers added that they have since taken microfinance loans from Access Bank and other microcredit organizations to buy their goods and then pay them back. But they are stuck with limited business focus at the OMEGA market complex.
According to them, since they were forcibly removed from Red-Light to Omega market, they have been faced with serious problems which the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) failed to address under her jurisdiction.
Speaking to this reporter on Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at the 14-Gobachop market, marketers decried the LMA President, Mrs. Elizabeth Sambolla for not making frantic efforts to remove those vendors from the Red-Light market, something that is causing serious hindrance for their businesses daily.
Esther Kollie, one of the Marketers asserted that the buying system is a serious issue for them at the Omega Market because other marketers have pushed back to Red-light and Omega junction and customers easily access their goods both Red-light and junction instead of coming to the commercial hub of Omega.
“I sell dry meat, I don’t have a problem with the system unlike those who sell frozen food they are the ones that are seriously complaining about the buying system. For, I don’t have a program with the buying systems at Omega Market. When I was in the Red-light market I used to make LD$30,000 daily but for Omega Market, sometimes I make LD$15,000 daily. The Liberia Marketers Association President usually passed through the market building before entering her office we don’t inform her about this situation, she sees it every day,” she noted.
“People who sell on the main road, my advice to them, is they should leave the street and come back to Omega and sell because selling along the road can sometimes lead to accidents and people can lose their lives, we are not the ones to chase after customers, customers should chase after us,” Madam Esther Kollie added.
Another marketer added that the sitting capacity of the 14-Gobachop market is well-furnished and can accommodate over 10,000 marketers, and as such, others who are plying the street should come back and book their spaces at the market and stop street selling.
“When I was at Red-light market, buying was alright but since we were removed by the Liberia National Police (LNP) we are finding it so difficult with our customers to come to the market site to buy our goods. Right now, everybody has left the Omega market and gone back to Red-light, so no business is going on here at Omega. I used to bet at least LD$3000 every day when I was at Red-light but in Omega here, I don’t earn LD$1000 daily again because of the poor buying system but is not by the grace of God we are surviving”, another marketer discovered.
On the other hand, single parents also who are selling in the Omega market appealed to the national government as well to seek a remedy to this age-old problem which is beyond LMA’s control; they asserted that this is the only means of survival to send their children to school. The marketers furthered that the government of Liberia should speedily work and take those who are defying the rules of law from leaving the street to cohere with them together in the newly constructed market building.
They are also complaining about the slow pace of business in the newly constructed market building. According to the marketers, all the goods and commodities which they sell in the market building have also been sold by the vendors. So because of this, they are not getting more customers as compared to their sojourn at Red-Light.
“We have called for a lot of dialogues for LMA and the government to amicably resolve this situation, but it seems to be like a vacuum in which the government of Liberia is not adhering to our cries and the only alternative we have right now is for us to go back to Red-Light and join our friends there”, marketers expressed their displeasure.
Some marketers are even complaining that they live remote distances which they cannot afford to wastefully spend on transportation daily, where there is snail-paced already in their businesses.
The marketers said since the Omega Market was constructed by President George Weah and dedicated to them; they were forcefully removed from Red-Light by the Liberia National Police (LNP) to a relocation site at Omega. But now, they are finding it difficult with the new system that is causing complete damage for their businesses and swaying away their valuable customers.
”We urge President Weah to send his proxies to steer the affairs of Omega Market, but if he can not heed to our quests and take rapid decisions, every one of us will go back to Red-Light and leave Omega market,’ the Marketers have continued to plead.